Thomas Blair with the wild boar he shot on his property in Moose Creek, Ont. on Monday, Nov. 16, 2015. Blair says the feral hog weighed in at 460 lbs. Reports of wild boars around Ottawa have been around since 2013. SUBMITTED IMAGE

Moose Creek Ont. – When Thomas Blair looked out the window of his Moose Creek home Monday, he immediately went running for his gun.

Blair was watching TV in his living room late in the afternoon when his dog began barking uncontrollably on the porch. He brought the animal inside to quiet it down, but the barking continued.

That’s when Blair saw what looked like a cow or bear walk by his window. When he was able to get a closer look, to his astonishment he saw the animal was a wild boar.

Stunned, Blair grabbed his hunting rifle, went out on the front porch and killed the beast with one shot.

“I couldn’t believe how big it was,” said Blair. “It was huge.”

In fact, the animal weighed a whopping 460 lbs. — about the same size as a fully grown, adult black bear.

Blair, who lives on a wooded lot southeast of Ottawa, had never before heard of, or seen, a wild boar in the area.

“I was surprised to see it,” said Blair. “I’m even more surprised because hunting season just ended around here and not one person reported seeing one or running into one.

Despite this encounter, Blair said he doesn’t believe there are more wild boars in the area.

“I wasn’t scared or anything,” Blaie added, “but maybe it would be scary if I would have ran into it at night, I don’t know.”

Not one to waste good meat, Blair had the animal butchered for future family meals.

He has also sent the head to a taxidermist to preserve and mount it in his home.

Boars are not common in Eastern Ontario. Hog sightings have been reported east of Ottawa in the Plantagenet and Hawkesbury area, including Prescott and Russell, in recent years.

In 2014, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNRF) Kemptville district gave the green light to farmers, hunters and property owners to kill wild boars should they see any.

According to the MNRF, the feral hogs damage crops, transmit disease to domestic pigs and can be a threat to human safety.

They are not native to North America. It’s believed they escaped from farms and adapted to survive.